Do $15-20 wifi shields exist? I like the wifi capability, but would like to incorporate a cheap barebones board and add wifi. I like the Async Blackwidow and the new 2.0 shield, but why can't it be cheaper? I can buy a wireless router for less! I like how the Async products are ready to go, slick and smart, but can't we get these shields down around $20. I have a bunch of wifi devices I want to make and play around with, but $$$! If it was $15-20 for a shield, I would not mind doing some leg work.

What are my options? I am surprised others are not pressing this matter. I guess I just don't understand what is making them so expensive?

The unit that Async use requires the tcp/ip stack to be on the microcontroller and is relatively cheap at £18.00 or so. and the stack is already built in to available libraries that you can copy from async.

The sparkfun unit has all of the TCP/IP stack onboard and you communicate via serial so all singing and dancing solution requiring very little on the microcontroller. And costs a little bit more.again you should be able to use the sparkfun libraries for the wifly shield.

A USB based wifi solution may cost very little but a microcontroller could not implement the neccesary drivers.Also the drivers will be proprietry and probably only available for windows. I doubt that they could be reverse engineered for the Arduino in any form.

Another solution would be an ethernet shield stacked on the arduino plugged into a cheap wifi router.Ethernet shields are fairly cheap.Thats going to cost more than the ZG2100 solution and more bulky hardware.

So as far as Ive worked out the cheapest solution for the Arduino would be the ZG2100 built on a prototype shield or custom Arduino board. At £18.00 plus a little bit for the other compnents I think that its a very cheap solution. No PC in the middle or wifi router plugged in to the Arduino. I think Ill have a go sometime to expand on my Arduino compatible board.http://scratchpad.thisandthose.org/scratchpad/article.php?story=20100715160140327I think it would work out cheaper than the blackwidow to build for myself.

The pics are great! Your rig is awesome! The detail you have investigated thus far is inspiring. I am going to try on my uno, but ultimately I want to implement on the ModernDevice BBB (if possible). Custom proto board for sure. Thanks for your input! I will feedback my findings when I finally get a chance to play. First I need to order a ZG2100. If they gouge on shipping, that could sink the ship.

Recently I am playing with the Asynclabs WiShield 2.0, everything works great. I need a raw TCP client socket code (just like the one with Ethernet shield) to send and receive data unlike the HTTP GET/POST which comes by default with the shield. I really appreciate if some one can point me in right direction.